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I think we programmers become so used to thinking about things abstractly that we forget the metaphors we were using when we first learned to program. When I w

I think we programmers become so used to thinking about things abstractly that we forget the metaphors we were using when we first learned to program. When I write C I'm often thinking about how the operation changes memory locations and registers, but I barely knew those when I started. This topic is also very interesting to me because my wife has shown an interest in programming which I'd like to nurture, but we have communication problems because I regularly use terms she doesn't fully understand yet and it is hard for me to put myself in the shoes of someone just starting out.

jackchristopher 17y ago
Might not be obviously relevant but this is good advice on a similar problem: http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/wiki/Singularity_Writing_Advice http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/wiki/Singularity_Writing_A... Besides the problem you described (inferential distance), I find the other problem in explaining or writing things is signaling social status incongruently. Like sometimes my tone strays from friendly toward lecturely.